Researchers used population dynamics modeling to assess the effects of size-specific and age-specific harvesting of Atlantic cod on Canada’s eastern Scotian Shelf. They found that fishing to a depth of 80 metres accounted for 72 per cent of the observed age-related cod-habitat deepening, and increasing fishing depth to 120 metre accounted for all of the deepening. The effects declined during a moratorium on cod fishing in the area, suggesting that age-related and size-related habitat deepening observed in commercially harvested species may be a result of size-selective harvesting.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Published June 04, 2018 (News release from PNAS)
URL after publication
Lead author: Kenneth Frank, Bedford Institute of Oceanography – Kenneth.Frank@dfo-mpo.gc.ca
